I will start... Boulevard Brewery in Kansas City. It was my favorite of the five or six I have had the chance to visit. They have a whole floor of the brewery consisting of handcarved wooden tiles. One man and his assistant slaved away for about 4 months (if I remember correctly) carefully handcarving and placing the tiles one by one. Another cool thing is I was there when they finally decided to switch over from screw off tops to pry off. The reason: they said there is an important secondary fermentation process that takes place from the time it is bottle until the time it is opened. They screw off cap lets oxygen in which can ruin the process.

My first tour was Utica Brewery in up-state New York about 30+ years ago. Since I've been to a few including Redhook in Washington and New Hampshire. My favorite so far has been 7 seas in Gig Harbor Washington. They served there stout with mini snickers bars which was quite the match. This week i hope to go to Beer'd brewery in Ct, a small Nano that is not pretentious, just loves doing the beer thing.

I made a list of all the breweries and brewpubs/taphouses associated with one brewery that I visited on 2012. Tried ranking them based on beer, ambiance, food (when applicable), tour (when applicable), and other intangibles.

Overall favorite has always been Stone for their restaurant and garden. Great place to take chicks.
I'm going to Russian River at the end of the month and I could not be more excited. Hopefully will hit Firestone Walker and Lagunitas on the way up too.

¡Bad Trader!Beer Trader

My first tour was Utica Brewery in up-state New York about 30+ years ago. Since I've been to a few including Redhook in Washington and New Hampshire. My favorite so far has been 7 seas in Gig Harbor Washington. They served there stout with mini snickers bars which was quite the match. This week i hope to go to Beer'd brewery in Ct, a small Nano that is not pretentious, just loves doing the beer thing.

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The Samuel smiths organic choclate stout goes amazing with freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. A great pairing as well

Beer Trader

Not exactly the height of craft beer but I really enjoyed visiting Yuengling; they take you down into a cave where they hid beer during prohibition. Have also been to Brooklyn, Sam Adams(Boston), Stoudts, Free Will, Yards, Forest and Main, Round Guys, Triumph(has a great restaurant), and Avondale.

Beer Trader

Best brewery tour I've been on is Pilsner Urquell in the Czech Republic. Learned that the beer they drink in The Czech Republic, Germany and Slovakia is different than the beer everyone else gets. Also loved that they ferment the beer to these 3 countries in open fermenters. AND I got unfiltered Pilsner Urquell straight from the barrel--only place you can. Was fantastic.